What do Shortlisted, Preparing and Submitted mean in Vithi?
A saved university and a submitted application represent different stages of work. Vithi’s university list uses Shortlisted, Preparing and Submitted to help you distinguish them. This guide is written by Vithi and suggests a consistent way to use those labels; they are personal tracking states, not decisions from a university.
Use Shortlisted for an option you are still evaluating
When you add a university to the list, it starts in the interested state, displayed as Shortlisted or Saved. Saving it is a way to keep the option available for review. It does not establish that you meet entry requirements or that a particular course is offered for your intended intake.
Before treating it as an application choice, check the exact course, campus and intake on the institution’s official pages. Keep a note of those details and the source in your own research record. This guide does not supply current requirements or deadlines for any institution.
Move to Preparing when work on the application has begun
A useful personal rule is to use Preparing once you have chosen a specific application route and started an actual next step, such as checking requested documents or drafting a response to the published prompt. Simply opening a course page need not count as application preparation.
For a hypothetical option called Example University, your note might say: “Preparing: course and intake checked; draft started; one document still to obtain.” Keep that note with your application materials. Vithi’s status label alone does not store every dependency or prove that a document has been received.
Avoid moving every saved university to Preparing just to make the list look active. If an option is still only a possibility, leaving it Shortlisted gives you a more accurate picture of your workload.
Reserve Submitted for a confirmed hand-in
Change the personal status to Submitted after you have completed the required submission action in the actual application system and checked the confirmation available there. Preserve that confirmation and any application reference in your own files. Do not put sensitive reference numbers into a public document.
A draft saved in an application portal is not the same as a submitted application. Neither is a payment attempt, an uploaded document or a completed personal checklist necessarily confirmation that the entire process is finished. Follow the instructions and status shown by the actual application service.
Marking Submitted in Vithi does not transmit an application or notify admissions. It records your own update. Later requests for supporting material should still be followed in the official system even if the Vithi label remains Submitted.
Choose one rule when several courses share a university
The saved entry is for a university, while your real application work may involve more than one course or route. A single label cannot fully describe mixed stages. Do not let it conceal an unfinished application.
For example, if one course is submitted and another is still being prepared, keep a separate course-level record outside the university label. Write down which course the label currently summarises, or adopt a conservative rule that the entry remains Preparing until the applications you intend to count are submitted.
This is an organising convention you choose, not an additional course-level tracking feature promised here. Use the same convention across the list so the category counts remain interpretable.
Check that a changed label was saved
After choosing a status on the saved entry, inspect the visible label and any success or error message. Vithi’s current interface restores the previous list state if a status update fails. Revisit or reload the view to check the persisted state before relying on the count.
If an entry unexpectedly returns to its old category, report the specific change and visible error rather than assuming all application records were lost. Keep the underlying application confirmation safe regardless of what a personal tracker displays.
Review the list with evidence beside each stage
Use this review record in your own notes: university; exact course and intake; official source; current personal stage; evidence supporting that stage; next action; location of the confirmation if submitted. Do not invent a deadline to fill an empty field.
At a review, ask whether each stage still describes reality. A removed option can remain in your private research archive without being treated as an active application. A Submitted label is not an offer, acceptance or enrolment decision, so keep later outcomes distinct.
Start with one saved university and make sure you can explain its label without guessing. The point of the categories is to support the next decision, not to turn a count of saved options into a measure of application quality.
